Chapter 9

The next week, I had volunteered to clean the dishes after dinner. Cory had volunteered to go fetch me a bucket of water to use in the wash basin while I gathered the dirty plates.

Paul and Jay had already left to go back out and corral the sheep back into the barn. We always had dinner at dark, and normally all the chores would be finished before we sat down to eat, but Paul had let it slide. They could do that when they didn't have to hole up and hide themselves away for a nightly visit from a demonic entity. With Ye'iitsoh banished back into the Infraworld, they could relax a little bit.

"One bucket of water, ready to go," Cory announced his presence with a flourish and bow.

I laughed, watching the water splash precariously. "Careful there. Paul won't be too happy if he comes in and sees a lake in his house."

Cory grinned and walked over. "Sorry we can't all be super badass CIA agents, yázhí."

I rolled my eyes and scraped the plates clean and wiped them off before putting them in the water basin. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." I nudged him with my shoulder. "Before I met you, I had no idea how to wash dishes without running water, and look at me now."

He frowned at me.

"What?" I asked, dipping the plate in the clean water.

"You really don't get it? Okay, say that were true, why in the world would you think know that would cheer me up? You couldn't have said something like-" he changed his voice to a high falsetto "oh, Cory, before I met you I had never seen how to act so cool before. Or, Cory, before I met you, I'd never seen someone so handsome before"

I grinned, placing the plate in the rack to dry. "Well, Jay was the one to answer the door, so…even if I hadn't seen anyone as handsome as you before, you still wouldn't have been the first."

He turned to me, affronted. He said something in Navajo and swatted me with the washcloth.

"Hey!" I admonished, trying to dodge but not wanting to drop the plate I was holding since they were all handmade.

"What's wrong? Big, bad agent can't duck a towel?" he teased. He dunked the washcloth into the wash basin and lifted it, sopping wet in his hands.

"Cory," I warned. "Cory, I'm telling you, do not even fucking th-"

The towel flopped across my face, landing and sticking with a wet plop. I spluttered under the fabric, blindly setting the plate down so I could pull it from my face. By the time I pulled it free, Cory was all the way across the room, grinning at me with his arms raised in a picture of innocence if it weren't for the devilish twinkle in his eye.

My heart felt warm as I wondered if this was what it would've been like if I'd had friends growing up. Fuck, I was still growing up. I acted like I was middle-aged.

I decided to ignore the dishes for the time. I kept eye contact with him as I swiped my forearm down my face to clear the water.

My silence and slow movements must've worried him. His grin slipped. "Jodie?"

I moved to dip the rag in the water, squeezing it a couple of times and letting it soak the water up.

"Now, yázhí," he chided, looking to the front door. There was no way he'd make it there before I did. I was pretty fast as he'd discovered the other day when he challenged me to a race around the farmstead the other day.

Without taking my eyes off of him, I lifted the rag up, listening with satisfaction as it dripped a steady stream. It was loaded.

Jay's eyes darted to the front door once more, before he finally decided to take his chances with the rest of the house. The hallway door was closer, so he darted for it, pulling a chair behind him to block the way. It didn't even slow me down. I jumped onto the seat and vaulted myself off, hitting the ground running. He headed for his room, slamming the door. I grinned, knowing his door only locked from the outside like all the other doors. Paul once told me it was so that he didn't have to worry about curious toddlers wandering around at night with Ye'iitsoh on the loose.

I quieted my steps and ducked into Jay's room. The window was open like usual, another ode to Ye'iitsoh after having to constantly board up the windows. I put my boot on the window sill and leaped out, crouching when I hit the ground. I crept under Cory's window, listening before I peeked into his room.

He had his hands braced against the door as he kept his eyes on the strip of light coming in under the door from the hallway.

I placed the sopping sponge on the window sill and hoisted myself up, bringing my feet under me. Cory moved to open the door, starting to realize that I'd been quiet too long. He cracked the door open to check the hall. I grabbed the sponge and creeped across the room, loving how solid the floors were in a desert house.

He had opened the door further, half his torso out when I reached him.

"CIA this!" I yelled like a battle cry, slipping the wet cloth down the back of his shirt and slapping it to get the water to squelch out.

"Shit, fuck, Jodie!" He turned around, his hands reaching behind his back to attempt to fish it out.

I smirked at his little dance, feeling so very satisfied after being called "little one" every moment throughout the month here. The expression slipped when I realized he'd caught the rag and now held it in his hand. It wasn't as wet, but it was the principal of it.

I whirled, running for the window. I'd vaulted myself up with both hands and had my feet aimed out and ready to land when his long arm snagged me back, a strong band around my ribs. "Oof," I grunted as the air left my lungs.

He dragged me back in, holding me in place with one arm and wiping the wet rag all over me with the other.

"Cory!"

He muffled my shouts with the cloth, making me splutter. I tried to get away, but he was stronger than he looked, and, short of hurting him, I couldn't think of a way to break free. I gave in after a moment of fighting it, not really caring and enjoying myself too much to try to win.

I could feel the vibrations of his laugh as they reverberated throughout his chest. I joined him, moving my hands up to push my now messy, damp hair away from my eyes. He wrapped his other arm around me, higher up this time and trapping my arms as he hugged me to his chest from behind. I wasn't sure where the washcloth had gotten to by this point. We were both laughing too hard to care.

Light spilled into the dark room, drowning out the soft moonlight and cutting off our laughter. Jay was standing there in the hallway. He looked confused.

"Cory? Jodie?"

I smiled and went to pull away, but Cory kept me where I was. I shook my head. "Yeah? Did you need us?"

Jay was quiet for a long time before he shook his head. "No, Paw and I saw that the dishes weren't done and-"

"Oh, right," Cory said, relaxing his grip when I stopped trying to get away. "We'll be there in a sec."

Jay looked like he wanted to say something more, but he just shook his head and stepped away.

Feeling that Cory's arms were now loose, I moved to step away and face him. I got the turning part down, but the distance part failed when he tightened his arms back up.

I looked up at him. "I haven't laughed like that in...fuck, probably never."

Cory's eyes studied mine, reflecting the hall light like twin black lakes under the moon. "I know that you're probably not exaggerating either." He tucked my hair back under my ear.

I blinked and cleared my throat, stepping away. "I better go finish those dishes."

"Jodie, wait!"

I paused, turning around as he hurried towards me. He got close again, close enough that I wondered if I'd been misreading the whole situation. Just when I thought he was about to kiss me, he hesitated. "Uh, you'll need the washcloth to finish the dishes."

He stooped down, picking the rag up that had landed on the floor beside me.

"Oh, right," I said with a small laugh.

I reached out to grab it, but he grabbed my hand instead and dragged me to him. Before I could even blink, he'd pulled me into a hot, fierce kiss, our bodies pressed together from head to toe. Before I could think, before I could respond, before I could close my eyes, he'd stepped back, leaving me frozen in place. He studied me for a moment, and then turned on his heel and walked out the door.

Cory liked me? Cory liked me as more than a friend?

I shook my head. He had to know that I liked Jay, right? I kissed him goodbye in front of his family, for fuck's sake. Sure, we hadn't kissed since I'd returned, but I got the impression that Jay was just protecting himself, waiting to see if I'd stick around, waiting to see if I'd open up before he believed I wouldn't take off again. I'd do the same thing.

Why would Cory kiss me?

My mind was a jumbled mess as I headed to the kitchen to finish the dishes, thankfully spying neither brother.

Paul bid me goodnight with a smile, noticing how antsy I was when he tried to talk to me about getting some chickens, and I nearly dropped the mug I'd been cleaning. "Go on to bed, yázhí. I'll finish up. You look like you could use a break."

"Are-are you sure?"

"Quite sure, off to bed now."

I turned to head down the hall. Before I could make it to the doorway, Paul called out to me.

"And Jodie?" When I turned to face him, he carried on. "I need to run into the city tomorrow. You should think about joining me. You've been here over a month now and haven't left the ranch. It might do you some good to get out, take a break."

I was touched by his offer. I smiled at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I'll do that."

"Good. I'm glad. We'll leave at six."

I turned to him, confused. Any other time he headed into town, he left later.

He noticed my frown and gave a slight smile. "Ah, the stuff that we need, we can't get into town, so we are going into the city. We'll be dropping off a load of milk and wool as well. It's about a four-hour drive one way."

"Ah. Okay then. I'll see you bright and early."

I headed to my room, passing Cory's room first, and then Jay's. I hesitated outside of both doors, but both times I ended up chickening out before I headed in. Instead, I went to bed, hoping that Paul was right and a day away from the ranch would help me figure out the things at war in my head.